Current Research Projects

Good Vibrations - Transcranial Ultrasound - Tuning the Brain

Stuart Hameroff and colleagues performed the first clinical trial of trancranial ultrasound (TUS) on
mental states, finding improved mood after 15 seconds of sub-thermal 8 MHz ultrasound compared with placebo applied at the temporal skull. Another project is being planned numerous colleagues including, UA professor of psychology John Allen and postdoc Jay Sanguineti for mood, cognition and psychological and neurological disorders (including post-operative cognitive dysfunction) and others, tba.

Microtubules within brain neurons are thought to resonate at megahertz frequencies, precisely where ultrasound acts. We hope to enhance mood, and treat various neurological disorders by stimulating brain microtubule dynamics through TUS.

"Anesthetics are fairly selective, erasing consciousness while sparing non-conscious brain activity," Hameroff told io9.
"So the precise mechanism of anesthetic action should point to the mechanism for consciousness." more

Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff discuss how the discovery of quantum vibrations in 'microtubules' corroborates the theory of consciousness - See www.Quantum.Consciousness.org

Research Website

UA Banner University Medical Center

Published Research

Summary Bio

Anesthesiologist, Professor and Researcher joined the faculty at University Medical Center in 1975. Dr. Stuart Hameroff's research for over 35 years has involved consciousness (how the pinkish gray meat between our ears produces the richness of experiential awareness). Studying anesthetic gas mechanisms, he focused on how quantum effects control protein conformational dynamics. Following an interest which began in medical school in the computational capacity of microtubules inside neurons, Dr. Hameroff proposed in the early 1980's that microtubules functioned as molecular computers. Hameroff’s 1987 book Ultimate Computing suggested downloading consciousness into microtubule arrays. In the mid-1990s Hameroff teamed with British physicist Sir Roger Penrose to develop the controversial theory of consciousness called “orchestrated objective reduction” - Orch OR theory - in which consciousness derives from quantum computations in microtubules inside brain neurons, quantum computations connected to the fine- scale structure of spacetime geometry. Dr. Hameroff has published five books and well over 100 research articles, and appeared in the film ‘What the Bleep do We Know?’ and numerous TV documentaries on the problem of consciousness including BBC, Discover Channel, History Channel, PBS, OWN, Huff Post Live and the film “What the Bleep?”

As Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies, established in 1997 at the University of Arizona, Hameroff co-organizes (with philosopher David Chalmers) the international, interdisciplinary biennial conference series ‘Toward a Science of Consciousness’ since 1994. For the past 20 + years TSC, CCS has been providing opportunities for researchers to meet in an international and interdisciplinary setting and has provided scholarships, grants, webcourses, seminars, symposiums. The Center is grateful for the past research support from Pfizer-Roerig, NSF, Fetzer Institute The Chopra Foundation, The Bhaumik Foundation, YeTaDeL Foundation, Google, Elata Foundation, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Journal of Cosmology, Monroe Institute, NIMS, and Mind Event AB, AOARD, EOARD, AFOSR.